Knox College - Gale Yearbook (Galesburg, IL)

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TO WILLIAM EDWARD SIMONDS WHO FOR TWENTY YEARS HAS BEEN A REAL FRIEND OF EVERY STUDENT OF KNOX COLLEGE AND WHO DURING THIS TIME HAS GIVEN I-IIMSELF UNRESERVEDLY IN LOYAL AND EFFECTIVE SERVICE TO THE INSTITUTION, THIS THE TWENTIETH VOLUME OF THE GALE IS DEDICATED

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Tal: GALE NINETEEN-TEN BIOGRAPHY ILLIAM EDVVARD SIMONDS was born at Peabody, Mass., September 10, 1860. His boyhood was spent in Peabody, and after graduating from the Peabody I-Iigh School, he went to Andover Academy, where he was a member of the class of 1879. Graduating from Brown University with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1883, Dr. Simonds at once took up teaching, and for two years was instructor in the Providence, Rhode Island, .lligh School. At the end of this time he went abroad for further preparation for his life work, studying for three years at the Universities of Berlin and Strassburg. In 1888 the latter institution conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. For the next year he was instructor in German at Cornell University, from which institution he came to Knox in 1889 to take the chair of English Literature and the instructorship in German, For fourteen years he carried the work of both departments until in 1903 he was left free to devote the whole of his energies to the work in English. The value of his work to Knox College, and to the me11 and women who have studied under him, is inestimablef For the college, it has been a potent factor in placing the name of Knox high among those of the educational institutions of the country, for many students the man and his work have been both the inspiration to higher scholarship and nobler ideals, and a means of attaining them. Recogni- tion of his success as a teacher of English Literature has come also from other institutions. In the summer sessions of the University of Illinois, in 1903 and 1907, Dr. Simonds held the position of instructor and lecturer in Eng- lish, while during the summer of 1908 he did similar work at the Uni- versity of Ohio. At the formation of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English in 1907, Dr. Simonds was chosen as the lirst president of this body. While he has been at the head of the Department of English at Knox, Dr. Simonds has gained national recognition as an author and authority of English Literature. A member of the Modern Language Association of North America, he has contributed frequently to the leading critical magazines, and to Modern Language Notes. His first published volume, brought out by D. C. Heath and Company in 1889, was Sir Thomas Wyatt and llis Poems, This was followed by A Student's History of English Literature, published in 1894-, and in 1902 by an Introduction to the Study of English Fiction. lly use in colleges and uni- versities of the highest rank, both eastern and western, these books have become standard in the fields they cover. A Student's History of American Literature, to be published this year by the Houghton Mifflin Company, is his latest literary production. Dr. Simonds also has edited Scott's Ivanhoe, 1902, DeQuincy's Revolt of the Tartars, 1908, and Gaskell's Cranford In 1898 Dr. Simonds was united in marriage with Miss Katherine Court- right, Dean of Women, Knox College, during the years 1896 and 1897. There are three daughters, Marjorie, Katherine, and Eleanor. Dr. and Mrs, Simonds are leaders in the intellectual life of Galesburg, and hold a peculiarly high position in the hearts of the people of Knox College and of the community. K N O X coI.Lr-:cis 5 D E D I C A T I O N